


Treat Me Like Your Mother

by DoctorSyntax



Category: Castle
Genre: F/F, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorSyntax/pseuds/DoctorSyntax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This is Kate," Alexis says, name rolling off her tongue like they're old friends—like she hadn't spent years calling Kate <em>Detective Beckett</em>. She curls her hand around Kate's wrist possessively, right there on the bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treat Me Like Your Mother

"Detective Beckett!"

Kate freezes for a second, because she _knows_ that voice. It's been three years since she heard it, but it's utterly unmistakable who's behind her. Whether she wants to turn around, that's another story; but she does, because she didn't hear anything confrontational in it.

Running up the street toward her is Alexis Castle, looking grown-up and painfully beautiful in a white pea coat and dark green scarf. "I wasn't sure if it was you," Alexis breathes when she catches up, smiling like the universe has granted her some wonderful gift. Her cheeks are flushed with the cold. "Thought I was going to make a fool of myself chasing some poor stranger through Manhattan."

"No," Kate says, feeling a little stupid, "it's definitely me."

And Alexis just looks at her for a second, eyes flicking back and forth to take in everything about Kate, and then, with a big grin but without warning, she steps forward to embrace Kate.

"It's so good to see you, Detective Beckett," Alexis says, squeezing her tightly—around her shoulders, not her waist; a small change that speaks volumes about how Alexis isn't a child anymore. Kate lets her hands come up to encircle the younger woman, and she can't help it, she's actually _happy_ to see Alexis. Her face already hurts from smiling, but not in a bad way.

"You too, Alexis." Alexis breaks the hug and pulls back, but doesn't quite move out of Kate's personal space, staying on the very edge of it. "And I told you when you went to college, it's Kate now. None of this Detective Beckett nonsense."

Another smile breaks over Alexis's face, like the morning tide. "Kate. I just—I didn't know if I'd ever see you again."

Kate swallows once at that, because she hadn't thought she'd see _Alexis_ again. "Well, you know where I work," she says, trying to force her voice into a light tone she doesn't feel. She's not sure if it works, but Alexis takes it for what it is.

"You're right. I should have visited."

Kate shrugs. "You've been away at school. And you never really—"

"No," Alexis says, and she sounds almost nervous. Like she knows what Kate's about to say and doesn't want to bring it up. _Let's not talk about how you broke my father's heart three years ago_.

And Kate's okay with that; she really, really is. "How's school going? Still an Economics major?" she asks Alexis, clinging like a coward to the subject.

"No, I—" Alexis breaks off, laughing. "I changed my mind about that _really_ fast. I switched over to pre-law after my first semester. And it's going well, I like it a lot. I'm already looking at some law schools for when I graduate."

"Of course," Kate says, remembering something Castle told her just after they'd met. "Most smart, good-looking women become lawyers."

Alexis looks at her kind of sideways, mouth open slightly in surprise, then smiles. "You think I'm good-looking?" she asks, softly, as if she can't quite believe it.

Kate feigns nonchalance, shrugging. "You've always been very pretty. Your mother, your father, Martha. You have excellent genetics."

But it's more than that.

She shoves that thought away like she did Francoise Brel, Tom Demming and, in the end, Richard Castle: abruptly, decisively, but with no little regret and a distinctly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach.

But Alexis is just _looking_ at her, like she can see right through her flimsy excuse, and then Alexis reaches out and circles one hand around Kate's wrist, holding it loosely. "Look, I'm sort of in a rush, but—can we catch up some time? Maybe go out for drinks, I don't know." Her gloved thumb rubs once against the back of Kate's hand before she lets go.

Kate _blinks_ , because did that just happen? She looks at Alexis and realizes that, yeah, it really just did. She opens her mouth, not sure what's going to come out. "Yeah," she finds herself saying. "Maybe tomorrow, after I finish with work?"

Alexis nods happily, and rummages around in her purse. "I know my phone's in here somewhere," she's muttering.

"Here." Kate stops her, reaching into her suit pocket and pulling out a business card. "My cell phone is on there. You can text me your number when you get a chance."

"Right," Alexis says, taking the card from her.

Before she can think about it, Kate grabs Alexis's hand and squeezes it briefly. "It was really good to see you," she repeats.

"Yeah," Alexis says, the curve of her mouth alluring in a way Kate doesn't want to think about. "I'll see you tomorrow."

*

"Whoa, is that little Castle?" Ryan asks, looking at something over Kate's shoulder. Kate glances behind her and sure enough, Alexis has just walked into the bullpen. She's got her hair curled and she's biting her lip, looking _very_ nervous, like maybe she shouldn't be here. "Hey, Alexis!" Ryan calls, and Alexis looks over at the three of them, grinning. She waves, but something about it is still hesitant.

Kate doesn't know what to do. Alexis is clearly there for her, but she's stuck where she is, unable to move out of some paralyzing fear that Ryan and Esposito will catch on to what's happening—even though she still isn't sure quite what is.

Gates comes out of her office, greeting Alexis politely but warily. Alexis gestures over toward Kate and Gates glances over, nodding. Esposito says, "Man, I haven't seen that kid in _ages_ ," and goes over to talk to her.

"I wonder if Castle knows she's here," Ryan muses absently, and that's it, that's what Kate needs to snap herself out of this.

Kate quarter-turns and leans over Ryan's desk, palms flat against the blotter. She looks him dead in the eye. "If you tell Castle Alexis was here," she says, low, "I'll tell Esposito he's the reason you divorced Jenny and you _still_ can't work up the courage to do anything about it."

And, yeah, that's a _low_ blow, but what's done is done and she can't take it back now. Ryan's eyes blink wide, because she's never so much as _hinted_ that she knows and now she's practically blackmailing him with it. "Whoa. Um—"

Kate closes her eyes briefly, wondering when the hell she went insane. "Sorry. That's. I shouldn't have said that."

"Beckett," Ryan says. "Is Alexis here for you? Like, to pick you up? Is that why you turned down drinks with us tonight?"

And, well, she _could_ deny it, but Alexis is walking over with Esposito, the two of them chatting amiably, and the truth is just going to come out in about two minutes—no sense in prolonging the agony. "Yeah."

Ryan's eyes widen again, and he ducks his head, hissing, "Are you going on a _date_ with Alexis Castle?"

"No," Kate says quickly. "I don't know. Maybe."

Ryan presses his fingertips to his mouth, processing the information. He looks a little like he's trying not to laugh, and Kate can't even blame him because the entire situation is _absurd_ and a little ridiculous. "Whoa."

"Don't you say a word," Kate threatens, _sotto voce_. Her eyes flicker upward to meet Esposito's—who clearly knows exactly what's going on, and finds it all very amusing—and then Alexis's, hesitant but so pleased to see Kate. "Hi, Alexis," she says.

"Hi, Kate," Alexis says, all shy and quiet, and Ryan makes a small noise when Alexis calls her _Kate_. Esposito smacks him on the back of the head without even looking at him.

"Hi, Alexis," Ryan says, spreading his arms wide but not standing up. "Don't I get a hug?"

"Of course," Alexis teases, sitting on the arm rest of his chair before embracing him. "Can't forget my favorite homicide detective."

"Don't flirt with me too much," Ryan replies, easy grin settling across his face. "You're all grown up now, and I'm divorced, you know."

She pulls back, making a face. Her arms are still looped around the back of his neck. "I know. Dad told me. I'm really sorry."

Ryan shrugs. "I'm not. Shit happens."

Alexis smirks, running her fingertips through the hair just over his ear. "Well, if you ever get lonely, I know a bunch of criminal justice majors just _dying_ for an older boyfriend. You're bound to like _one_ of them. Dad will give you my number."

"What, and go all the way out to Chicago?" He laughs. His eyes flicker to Esposito and back in a flash, but the only person in the room who _doesn't_ notice is Esposito himself. "I think I can find someone a little closer to home."

"Right," Alexis says. "Well, the offer's on the table." She twists her torso but doesn't leave Ryan's embrace, looking at Kate. "Are you ready to go?"

Kate startles slightly. "Yeah—yeah. Just let me get my coat."

"Bye, kiddo," Ryan says, squeezing Alexis's side. She grins and kisses him on the cheek before standing and hugging Esposito.

"Bye, guys."

"Hey, don't be a stranger, okay?" Esposito asks. "Just because your dad never comes in anymore doesn't mean you can't."

Alexis nods. "I know."

Kate walks up to the group, fastening the belt on her coat. "Night, Ryan. Espo. See you tomorrow." She turns to Alexis. "Let's go."

The smile Alexis gives her could light the entire room.

*

Alexis takes her to the Old Haunt, and once Kate realizes that's her intention, she stops dead in the middle of the sidewalk.

Alexis stops too, looks over her shoulder at Kate and rolls her eyes. "Relax," she says, grabbing Kate's hand and tugging her forward. "Dad's not here tonight; the fourth Cameron Colley book is due in a couple days and he's holed himself up in his office with a bottle of whiskey."

"There are a hundred other bars in New York City," Kate points out, walking with Alexis but still wary.

Alexis shrugs. "Yeah, but I'm a poor college student, and I drink for free here." She tilts her head, studying Kate. "Which means you do too."

Kate hasn't been to the Old Haunt in years. Alexis still hasn't let go of her hand, and Kate lets the younger girl drag her down the stairs, through the door and over to the bar.

"Hey, ‘Lex," the bartender, a younger guy Kate doesn't recognize—he must be new—greets. "And hello, Alexis's friend. What will you ladies be having?"

"This is Kate," Alexis says, name rolling off her tongue like they're old friends—like she hadn't spent years calling Kate _Detective Beckett_. She curls her hand around Kate's wrist possessively, right there on the bar. The bartender notices, his eyes flicking downward at the motion and then back up to their faces; he clearly doesn't think much of it. Like Alexis brings girls in here all the time.

"Jameson's, please," Kate says, feeling desperately out of her depth. "On the rocks."

Alexis glances over at her quickly, smile slowly quirking her lips. "We've got all night, Kate," she says, and her grip on Kate's wrist tightens for just a second.

Yeah. Kate's definitely not drunk enough for this.

*

  
They sit on the two stools on the far end of the bar, drinking and talking for hours. And yeah, maybe they sit pretty close, heads bent like a high school study hall pow-wow, shoulders brushing ever-so-slightly. And maybe they touch a lot more than they should; Alexis initiating it most of the time, little taps on Kate's hand or arm, quick brushes against each other as they reach for the drinks that come slow but steady. And _maybe_ they keep giving each other long, heated looks during perfectly innocuous conversation about college life and recent homicides and the dangers that criminal justice lawyers face.

But they also dance around Castle, Richard freaking Castle, and the fact that Kate spent four years wanting him and then finally got him, only to wake up one morning and realize this wasn't what she wanted at all.

Finally Kate can't take it anymore; there are two separate kinds of tension building between them—one sexual, one very much _not_ , and one of them needs to go. Right now. "I thought you were bringing me here to…" she gestures without a clear idea of what she's trying to illustrate. "Force some kind of meeting between your dad and me. I—aren't you still mad at me?"

Because the last time she saw Alexis, the younger girl was furious.

Alexis looks at her. Really _looks_ at her. "No."

Kate doesn't say anything.

Alexis sighs. "Look, it was a long time ago. You did what you thought was right, and you did it without dragging everything out any more than it already had been. Yeah, I was pissed then, but Dad's alright now. He's happy. I really don't care beyond that."

"Right," Kate says, hardly believing what she's hearing. "Yeah, that's—good."

"Besides," Alexis says, and the shift in her voice is unmistakable, even if she didn't reach up and card her fingers through the hair at Kate's temple. "I _really_ didn't bring you here to talk about my father."

Kate swallows. "I'm old enough to be your mother," she tries, and Alexis snorts.

"Hardly."

Alexis moves closer, and Kate sways back an equal distance. "You'll regret this."

The thing about Alexis is that she moves so fluidly; her shoulders shrug with an easy grace and everything just rolls off of her back (occupational hazard of being Richard Castle's daughter, most likely). That's why it's so jarring for Kate to watch the younger girl's countenance shift into something more closed-off, to see every muscle in Alexis's body tighten and the warmth in her eyes vanish as if it was never there.

"I'm twenty-two. Don't you trust me to know what I want?"

And Kate knows she's hit Alexis's sore spot. Wants to kick herself because she _knows_ distrust is something that bothers the younger girl. She's heard Alexis throw almost the exact same sentence at Castle before, all those years ago (could it really have been six years ago? God.), which makes it even stranger to hear it directed at herself now. Worse still, it does nothing to get rid of the lingering, vaguely parental feeling she's desperate to shake, and she squirms a little bit because dammit, if she's going to be uncomfortable, Alexis is going to _know_ about it.

"Look, I know I only dated your father for two weeks, but you and I knew each other for years before then. I always thought—well, the way you would sometimes ask me for advice, I thought…." she trails off. "Didn't you see me as more of a mother kind of figure?" She cringes around the words _mother_.

"No, I--" Alexis blows out a sigh. "I wanted to, at first. I thought I needed one. But I had Gram for that--you--" she bites her lip. "I saw you as more of a friend. Like that older girl you know from church or school or whatever, that's so impossibly pretty and nice and popular, and you want to be her, and then, I don't know, suddenly I didn't want to be you anymore. I just wanted you."

Kate clears her throat, trying to buy some time as she parses those sentences down to the crux of what Alexis means, what this whole evening hinges on: _I want you, and I have wanted you for years_. It's a feeling Kate's familiar with.

Kate leans forward and kisses her, slowly, on the lips. "Let's get out of here," she suggests tentatively. Maybe Alexis will wake up tomorrow morning and realize that something she spent so long wanting isn't what she thought it was; on the other hand, maybe not. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Alexis blinks her eyes open, exhaling a breath. "Yeah. _Yes._ Let's go."

*

Alexis pushes them both onto the bed fully-clothed and crawls over Kate, lying half on her, half off. Kate pulls them closer together, relishing the way the soft curves of Alexis's body press against her own. She flips them over so she's lying on Alexis, one leg between Alexis's legs. Alexis kisses her, making a tiny noise and Kate bites down on the younger girl's lip.

"Clothes off," Kate orders, because maybe Alexis began this whole seduction and was the one in control every step of the way, but now that Kate's on board she's determined to see this thing through to the end. Whatever that may be.

"Yes, _ma'am_ ," Alexis breathes, and Kate gets up on her knees to undo the buttons of her own blouse. Alexis does the same for her own shirt, lying in front of Kate, and hell, she's making it a show. Kate rolls off her to get her pants off, and when she looks back over, Alexis has her hips tilted slightly up, sliding her skirt off like she does this for a living.

Alexis acts like she _knows_ how fucking sexy she is, but Kate can't resist telling her, and she's rewarded with a full-body blush that flushes almost every inch of Alexis's smooth, pale skin. Then quick as lightning, Alexis's mood shifts, and she pins Kate to the bed.

Kate could easily break her hold and get the upper hand, but she kind of likes that she can make Alexis do it. She makes a mental note: embarrass Alexis by telling her how attractive she is. All the time.

Alexis is paying very, _very_ close attention to Kate's collarbone with her mouth, lavishing it with wet, open kisses. Kate makes a noise in the back of her throat, and Alexis begins trailing kisses down Kate's clavicle, sternum; she stops when she gets to the gunshot scar.

Alexis glances up at Kate through her eyelashes and bites her lip, tracing the scar from top to bottom with the tip of her finger, and then from bottom to top with the tip of her tongue.

Kate huffs a laugh, trying not to let on what a turn-on that was. "Get on with it," she orders, and Alexis grins, slow and wicked. She continues kissing her way down Kate's abdomen, and Kate doesn't think so much after that.

*

Alexis knocks on her door.

"It's open," Kate calls, having known Alexis was on her way over. She's sitting at her kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee and going through the file from her most recent case, double-checking that she tied up every loose end.

Alexis strolls in like she owns the place, locking the door behind her before dropping into the chair opposite Kate. She looks like she has something to say, and Kate has a good idea of what it is.

"C'mere," Kate says, beckoning to Alexis as she leans across the table. Alexis leans forward, meeting her halfway, and Kate kisses her on the mouth. "It's good to see you."

Alexis drops back into her chair, managing half a smile. "You too."

Kate settles back, flipping a page of the casefile even though she really doesn't need to, pretending she's not as nervous as Alexis. "So what's up?" she asks, voice a studied casual.

"When I told him," Alexis says, drumming her fingertips against the table, "he wasn't mad. Well." She bites at her bottom lip. "You know. He was upset, but he didn't want to show it. He just made this joke, like, ‘Oh, well that explains why I never got anywhere with her' but I could tell it bothered him." She shrugs, clearly trying to shake it off and not doing a very good job of it.

"Once, a long time ago," Kate begins slowly, "your father told me that relationships weren't math problems—you can't approach them with logic." She smiles, remembering. "He was so worried you'd meet your soul mate and do nothing because it wasn't _practical_ —his words, not mine. He just needs time to remember that, Alexis."

Alexis bites her lip, processing the information, then nods. "Gram told me not to worry, that he'll come around."

Kate doesn't say anything—she's already said everything she can—and Alexis tilts her head to look over at her. "She says hello, by the way. She, uh—maybe you could come over, she said? For drinks or something. When Dad's not around."

Kate ducks her head, trying not to smile. "I'd like that."

Alexis reaches across the table, turning Kate's hand over and intertwining their fingers.


End file.
